Benjamin Franklin was probably the first globally known American in the fields of technology, literature, public affairs and philanthropy who lived from 1706 to 1790. He was one of America’s founding fathers and the only person to be present at all four important American public documents, The Declaration of Independence, The Treaty of Alliance with France, The Treaty of Peace with Great Britain and the Constitution. He was also one of the primary players in America’s war for independence.

Nearly 200 years after his death Franklin was still renowned across the country. In Gotham City there even stood a Franklin Museum in his honor.

The villain Kite Man had been obsessed with Benjamin Franklin as a child. When he attempted to repeat one of Franklin’s most famous experiments (Flying a kite with a key during a thunder storm to prove lighting was electricity) he was injured. Years later as shown in the episode “Long Arm of the Law” he resented Benjamin Franklin and declared him a fraud asking what Franklin had done for society, although he was quickly proved wrong when several others mentioned his more famous inventions.